On the world of Atilla’s Eye, the capital of the anarchist police state known as the
Asphodel Anarchist Collective, the last vestiges of the planet’s natural ecosystem were swept
away.
Where once there rose ancient, savage mountains or stretched mighty, tempestuous seas, there
were now only endless horizons of dazzling cityscapes and boundless urban sprawl.
The creation of the galaxy’s first ecumenopolis of the New Age was celebrated as an unrivaled
triumph, but none could ignore the creep of doubt that this achievement might not survive
the threats that lay beyond.
The Pelx-Cradonian Horde had been united and unleashed with every nation humbled before
its might.
Each had a choice, resist and face extinction or submit to the one known to her followers
as the Plume of Silver, but hated and feared across the galaxy as the Great Chirpy Khan.
The Beau'Psionian Brotherhood was the first to face the Great Khan in battle and its fleets
were quickly shattered, its armies smashed.
Unwilling to surrender to those they considered heathens, the only choice left to the Beau'Psionians
was to accept their fate and their worlds were taken one by one.
The Flaarghl Star Gazers and The Way, nations that just years earlier had declared a great
alliance together with the Beau'Psionians, felt no such spiritual obligation.
Their holy leaders knelt before Chirpy Khan and the newest subjects of the Horde attempted
to comfort themselves in the idea that mortal empires were fleeting, while faith remained
eternal.
If there was any hope that the rise of the Khan might break the ideological struggle
between the Union of Supreme Synthetic Republics and the UNG Alliance, it faltered and died
as fleets gathered on the borders of the USSR.
Finally, the long-awaited day arrived.
A coalition of forces from the UNG, Platycorp, Baatezu Empire, Valtun Kingdom, Obadin Republic,
Cupitor Technocracy, and Rephlex Inc struck at the USSR, closing in from both sides in
perhaps the largest pincer movement in galactic history.
So dire was the threat posed by the USSR that the Coalition was joined by the Church of
Chains, an isolationist nation that for decades had contented itself in simply managing the
galactic slave market.
System after system fell before this Coalition but as they advanced, their cohesion dwindled.
In the Battle of Novgorod, a vast Synthetic counter-offensive fell upon the scattered
Coalition fleets, each caught out of position and unsure whether to flee or make a stand.
Forced into a battle for which they seemed unprepared, Coalition leadership braced for
a disaster but shockingly, the fleets of the USSR, which for so long had seemed poised
to conquer the galaxy, were woefully ineffective.
Where before the USSR had only conquered marauders and pirates, now they faced advanced countermeasures
and modern armaments and were forced to concede Novgorod to the Coalition.
As the greatest fleets in the galaxy were turned against each other, the Khan continued
her march of woe.
Rephlex Inc was forced to surrender while the destruction of the Beau'Psionians continued.
In the Japris system, the last Beau'Psionian ship, a vessel in which the entire nation
had placed their remaining hope, was quickly destroyed and Japris Prime, their final free
world, was besieged.
Yet not even this doomed heroic struggle could convince the Coalition and USSR to unite against
their common enemy.
In the Lwow system, newly retrofitted Synthetic warships massed in two enormous fleets crushed
the advance of the Coalition and forced them into a barely contained retreat.
The UNG and its allies had no choice but to withdraw from the USSR entirely, denounced
by their enemy as the “United Cowards of the Galaxy”.
Perhaps emboldened by the defeat of the UNG, subservient artificial intelligence units
across their space broke out in open revolt.
Everywhere UNG garrisons were overthrown and secretly constructed fleets moved to destroy
their organic oppressors.
In a heartbreaking blow to UNG morale, the newly declared “Artificial Alliance” quickly
seized control of two systems named for the most legendary and honored heroes in human
history.
From here they prepared mighty armadas, far larger than even those commanded by the Great
Khan.
The capitulation of the UNG seemed all but certain.
What happened next might never be truly understood.
It was widely accepted that the Artificial Alliance could not coordinate the trillions
of drones it had constructed, while others claimed that the eponymous spirits of those
systems lost intervened themselves.
Whatever the reason, the power of the Artificial Alliance was fractured and hope returned to
the UNG.
As the entire galaxy fell into chaos, the Cyber Equestrian Collective announced they
had managed to bridge the gap to a previously inaccessible extragalactic star cluster by
repairing a long dormant and ancient Gateway.
Hoping to discover some long lost wonder that might be the key to defeating the Great Khan,
they instead encountered a highly advanced civilization known as the Dessanu Consonance.
To the Khan, the discovery of the so called “L-Cluster” was merely another opportunity.
The tremendous defenses of the Dessanu were not enough to deter the Horde and after seizing
the entrance to the L-Cluster, they quickly utilized its ancient network of gateways to
send their fleets across the galaxy, almost without warning.
Everywhere the Horde was set loose against unprepared defenders and nations that had
ignored the Khan as a distant concern now found their worlds on the front lines.
Not even the Artificial Alliance could escape the wrath of Khan, and robotic warfleets dueled
with Pelx-Cradonian raiders in the ruins of what had once been UNG space.
Caught between two powers it could not hope to stand against, and with Earth itself occupied,
the UNG submitted to the Khan in desperation.
On Japris Prime, the long assailed Beau'Psionian Brotherhood came to an end, but in the death
throes of that spiritual people was born a holy martyr.
The heroic final stand of the Beau'Psionians was personified in the will and deeds of their
last General.
His death rocked the galaxy like a thunderclap and once disparate powers now found themselves
united in his name.
New armies and fleets were mobilized and sent against the Khan with a new battlecry, “stand…
with Steve”.
The nations of the 5th Interstellar, the Dredge, Platycorp, the Cyber Equestrians, and the
Terkardian Utopia all marshalled their power against the Khan, but against her brilliant
strategic mind, achieved only mixed success.
When Chirpy Khan faced her first defeat, it was not from any of the younger races, but
the Dessanu, who could tolerate the Horde’s control of the L-Gates no longer.
Emboldened by this reversal, the Terkardian Utopia, Asphodel Anarchist Collective, and
the Union of Supreme Synthetic Republics, in an unprecedented display of unity, tracked
down the wounded Khan and in the battle of Baeeruta, ambushed her warfleet and destroyed
her flagship.
The reign of the Khan was ended and the galaxy granted a reprieve.
With the death of Chirpy Khan, democratic, egalitarian factions within the Pelx-Cradonian
people seized power and attempted to reform the Horde into a new federation built on mutual
support and common ideals.
For many who had knelt before the Khan, the memory of her conquest was too great and the
heroic symbol of Steve too powerful.
Even before the Horde had completed its transition of power, the Valtun Kingdom, The Way, and
the Flaarghl Star Gazers all declared their independence.
Only the UNG remained, counting on whatever power remained in the Horde to protect them
from the Artificial Alliance.
The sense of galactic unity born with the martyrdom of Steve died with the Khan.
Old rivalries quickly crept back into the universe and the Sozialistische Räterepublik,
together with the 5th Interstellar, demanded that the UNG finally bow to their superior
ideology.
Again faced with a war it couldn’t hope to win and the support of the reborn Horde
in doubt, the UNG immediately surrendered, becoming the newest member of the 5th Interstellar.
All across the galaxy, the old ways returned, if they ever left at all.
The Flaarghl Star Gazers and The Way have reformed the Council of Seekers, declaring
Steve to be their messiah, while Platycorp claims to have obtained his DNA and now sell
it at a premium on the galactic market.
Petty rivalries have turned once more to war, and everywhere larger and more powerful warships
are being constructed, threatening to bring about an even greater cataclysm.
Centuries from now, if any historians who might reflect on this era remain, how many
might argue that the galaxy would have been better off if the Horde had never fallen and
the universe had been united under the genius of Chirpy Khan?
Surely, however brutal and repressive her rule might have been, it might still be preferable
to the unyielding insanity of ideologies, the incomprehensible plots and wars, and the
seemingly endless spiral into madness that has once more entangled the galaxy and threatens
to ensnare it in a perpetual hysteria from which it can never escape.
Thanks to Paradox Interactive for allowing us at The Templin Institute to investigate
and document the many empires in their intense and unpredictable Dev Clash series.
We’ll be providing a summary of the events of their streams every few weeks but if you
would like to watch the Dev Clash live streams as they happen or stay up to date with the
latest news on Stellaris and its upcoming MegaCorp expansion, follow them on Twitch
& YouTube.
There’s a link in the description.